WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy slowed to a modest growth rate of 1.9 percent in the summer as consumer spending downshifted and businesses continued to trim their investments in response to trade war uncertainty and a weakening global economy.
The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that the July-September performance for the gross domestic product, the economy’s total output of goods and services, was just below the 2 percent rate of growth in the second quarter.
Economists had been forecasting a much bigger slowdown with fears GDP could slump to 1.4 percent or less given a number of headwinds.
Still, the GDP gain was far below the 3-percent-plus increases that President Donald Trump has set as a benchmark to demonstrate that his policies are succeeding in lifting the economy above the modest 2.2 percent growth of the Obama years.
